The Ember Island Play
by AtoMaki
Summary: After her escape from the Boiling Rock, Suki tries to set things right in the shadow of her rather unfortunate adventure with Azula. Meanwhile, Piandao too is forced to deal with a woman from his past - a woman who once meant a lot to him... and maybe still does. This story is the sequel of Suki's Master. Lots of Sukka and PiandaoxOC.
1. Prelude: No Secrets Revealed

**PRELUDE: NO SECRETS REVEALED**

Pu On Tim felt the meeting-place a bit too unsettling. The Kosako Island Hanging Gardens had seen better days, it was undeniable even with the renewal project underway, and its backyard clearly suffered the worst of the worst. The large garden was grossly over-grown; the small walkway between the massive green walls of vegetation was almost impassable from the roots and branches that had intruded over it. The eerie tranquility that filled the place was even worse, though, and more than once during his journey from the entrance, Pu On Tim had seriously considered simply turning tail and running away. His fat body was sweating without end under his thick green clothes, and his long black beard was already full of leaves.

Unfortunately, he had an appointment with a very powerful person, and he knew too well what happened to those who failed her.

He finally reached the end of the walkway, a small glade with a fountain in its center. Here, the vegetation was lighter, revealing large, grey bricks beneath, the remains of the ancient palace that once included this garden. Pu On Tim quickly walked to the fountain and cleared a small seat for himself on the edges. He brought out a mug from his purse and filled it with water from the fountain.

The vegetation opened up in the opposite side, and two women entered the clearing. The one who came at the front was clearly from the Fire Nation; her coal-black hair and golden eyes betrayed her, even though she wore a simple green and white robe. The other behind her was maybe from the Water Tribes, with her dark skin, brown hair, and blue eyes – it was hard to decide as she had orange clothes, and Pu On Tim had heard about rumors about a bunch of Fire Nation sailors who mixed with the Southern Water Tribe. The odd combination of colors was confusing enough that at first, he couldn't even recognize the two women.

"I suppose you are Pu On Tim," began the woman in the front, and her voice immediately revealed her identity.

"My lady…" He tried to get on his feet to bow, but by the time he could pull himself together, the woman sat down next to him. "All apologies for my rudeness! Navigating through this garden is quite fatiguing, don't you think?"

"We had an easy walk," noted the other woman mockingly, while she prepared two teacups. She filled them with water, put some tea into them, and then handed both to the Fire Nation lady. Only a few seconds later, steam began to rise from the cups, signaling the completion of hot tea, freshly warmed by the lady's firebending.

"I don't want to waste more time here than I must." The lady sipped her tea, handing the other cup to her companion. Pu On Tim used the opportunity to calm his embarrassment with his mug of fresh, cold water. "I heard about your play, and while I'm amongst the few people who like the Ember Island Theater, the inclusion of certain events still distressed me greatly."

"My sources are…" started Pu On Tim desperately, but he was cut short by the stern gaze of a pair of golden eyes. The silent command drained the words out of his mind, and he could only stammer a few incomprehensible excuses before finally shutting his mouth.

"You are going to cut the scenes concerning those events from the play." This wasn't a request, but an order. Pu On Tim suddenly started to feel himself in trouble. "If you still want to make some poor soul's life miserable, then here, you can have these."

With that, the other woman gave him a bunch of papers, maybe pages from a book. He glanced through them, and saw that they were parts of some sort of journal. The story on them sure looked promising.

"I will rewrite the script as soon as I return to Ember Island," he muttered, without looking up from the pages. The more he read, the more excited he became. This story was a gold mine for his narrative.

"Excellent!" The lady stood up and dusted off her robe. "We are leaving now, then." The other woman quickly put away the empty teacups and walked to the opening from where they had come from, only waiting for her lady. "Oh, and don't worry about discretion! She deserves to face the truth, at least once in her life!"

The last sentence was barely audible as the two women disappeared into the thick vegetation, leaving Pu On Tim alone in the clearing.

He was just reading and pondering in the silence for a few minutes before putting the pages away. He already had an idea about how to modify the script to include this magnificent story.

As he prepared to leave this place, he realized that he also knew an actress who would be perfect for the new role.


	2. Part 1: Assassin

**PART 1: ASSASSIN**

The backyard of the mansion was empty barring a single person. The tall, dark-skinned man stood alone with a sword in his hand. The blade of the weapon was pointed towards the dawning sun and the strengthening rays of light danced on the steel in a captivating pattern. The glimmer illuminated the man's face, the shadows cast by his strong features and wrinkles giving him a haunting appearance, as if he was a ghost of war, a dark incarnation of inhuman martial prowess.

He swung the sword to his right, slightly twisting it downwards in the process. He could feel the hesitation of the weapon as its uninitiated form pressed against the move. There was definitely some stiffness in it. But it was understandable. This sword was still young; a week had barely passed since it had earned its final form in the workshop.

The weaponsmith had brought it to the man to test and evaluate the blade. It was meant to be a weapon for an important military officer who was fighting in the thickest part of the Fire Nation war. A faulty sword would be a major insult, so it was now up to the man and his peerless expertise to judge the youngling.

So far, he deemed it adequate for its task. After decades spent fighting, the man had acquired a certain sense that made him capable of determining such things from a single glance. Of course, a true test would be in the heat of combat, when the weapon would be put into real use.

Sadly, none of his usual sparring partners were available at this time. The letters he had sent were left unanswered.

The man was alone with the sword - the greatest swordfighter of the world, carefully measuring the fresh blade in the sunlight.

Piandao sighed. He had promised the weaponsmith that he would provide an opinion within five days. And he was running out of time. It was day four and he still couldn't test the blade in a fight.

Though, maybe this would change now. He could feel a _presence_ in the nearby bamboo forest. Someone was watching him and Piandao was sure that this person had no good intentions in mind.

He turned his back towards the forest with the weapon in a lowered position. He could hear the bamboo buzzing so his would-be attacker had begun to lose patience. It was a perfect opportunity to gain the initiative.

"I know you are out there!" His call hung in the air, unanswered. "Come out! There is no point in hiding anymore!"

He spun around to face the bamboo forest and raised the sword. His fighting stance was perfect. Decades of experience and hard training had made Piandao into an almost undefeatable swordfighter. As he readied himself for the upcoming battle, his body became one with the weapon in his hand. It was now an extension of his will, perfectly under his control, just like every muscle, nerve and bone.

He made a step towards the forest…

…And the bushes on his right opened up to launch a dark figure at him. Piandao's attacker was slightly smaller than him, but was otherwise unrecognizable because of the black clothes that covered his _or her_ body. Piandao only saw a flash of a pair of green eyes and heard the unmistakable sound of a sword jumping out of its sheath before the assassin reached him.

They met in a clash of steel as Piandao parried the first attack. He didn't panic even though the direction of the attack caught him by surprise. His sword knocked away the other weapon with a quick and purposeful swing, only touching the width of the blade and not the edge.

The first attack was followed by a spinning kick, but Piandao jumped back in time to avoid the strike. He took a few calculated steps backward to gain some distance to better assess his opponent. His attacker did the same and it gave Piandao the time he needed to plan his next move in detail.

His opponent used a longsword that was slimmer than Piandao's with a slightly curved edge. He knew this kind of sword; he had one on the wall of his bedroom. It was a Kyoshi Warrior longsword, a weapon far superior to the one Piandao was currently using. He flinched as he realized that even a single strike from that weapon could sunder his young sword easily.

He mentally adjusted his planned tactic to compensate for the difference in weapons and then charged the assassin. Like a mirror image, his opponent did exactly the same. They ran towards each other in almost perfect silence, weapons raised and eyes fixed on each other.

They clashed again in the middle of the backyard. The assassin attacked with a breathtaking display of swordsmanship, blade flashing like living lightning. It drew a deadly pattern into the air and it would have surely spelled doom for any lesser warrior, but Piandao dodged every strike, using his sword to launch carefully timed counter-attacks. His goal was not to hurt but to restrict and control. He wanted that Kyoshi Warrior longsword in an attacking position where it couldn't threaten his sword. Everything else came only after that.

The assassin changed tactics as Piandao began to dominate the fight: without warning, the black figure suddenly jumped in the air and kicked out towards Piandao's head. He knocked away the attacking leg and his opponent landed right next to him. The follow-up strike with the Kyoshi Warrior longsword was fast, but Piandao dodged it by leaping forward. The assassin moved again, this time aiming for his back but the blade only cut into the empty air again. Instead of a typical face-to-face swordfight, the assassin were now dancing around Piandao, attacking him from multiple directions and only stopping for a strike before Piandao could counter.

While the change of pace took Piandao a little bit by surprise, it also revealed this mysterious person. The technique _she_ used was the characteristic fighting style of a specific organization, and there were only four people in this organization who could keep pace with Piandao like this in a sword fight and only one of them had green eyes.

With this decisive information in hand, he quickly devised a new plan to defeat his opponent. _Her_ style was technically a defensive one: it was all about using the strength of the enemy by channeling the momentum of an attack and eventually turning it against the attacker. When used properly, this fighting style was almost undefeatable.

Piandao was familiar with its many tricks, and he knew well its weaknesses too.

As the assassin spun around to attack Piandao's left side, he darted out towards her with a full frontal assault. He could see those green eyes gleam with satisfaction as he seemingly fell into the trap.

Piandao closed his eyes and let his instincts guide him. The assassin stepped into his attack, grabbing his attacking arm and twisting it sideways, simultaneously bumping into him and thus forcing his body to follow his arm. He didn't resist in the slightest. He relaxed his body and simply let it move where his opponent wanted it to move. His strength leaked away through his eased muscles and his momentum dropped. For the assassin, there was nothing to redirect now. Her technique suddenly became useless.

It took only a moment of hesitation from her to give Piandao the opportunity to end the fight. He suddenly tightened his muscles again and pushed himself against his opponent with full force.

A panicked scream of a woman broke the silence of the backyard. The Kyoshi Warrior longsword fell to the ground and Piandao's sword soon followed it as he let go of his weapon in order to prepare himself to restrain the assassin.

They both tumbled and hit the grassy slope behind the yard. Piandao grappled onto his opponent and used his greater physical strength to wrestle himself into position that would give him the upper hand.

By the time they reached the bottom of the slope, the fight was over. Piandao landed on top of the assassin, pinning her down. This was a critical point, as without his sword, Piandao was no match for the woman. He had to end this right here and right now.

From the corner of his eye he caught the flash of a blade. He reacted just in time to knock away the small dagger, and then grabbed the attacking arm and pushed it back to the ground.

They remained like this for a long moment: the assassin lying on the ground and Piandao stretching over her, holding her down.

"Aren't we a little bit too old for this?" he murmured between his panting. His right hand reached up and removed the clothing that covered the assassin's head.

A fall of short and thick - almost fur-like - reddish brown hair was set free, and as it moved away, it revealed a very familiar face to Piandao. For a split second, he could only see it as he had more than fifteen years ago: the mild and soft features, sharp green eyes, and strong lips which made the face breathtakingly beautiful, a true miracle of nature. Then the hair slipped back completely, and the impression was shattered by a terrible scar. It sprawled across the right side of the face like a deep, dark red fissure, marking its way from the edge of her temple across her miraculously intact right eye and down to just above her lips with disfigured, badly healed flesh.

Piandao could clearly remember every moment he had spent with… _both sides_. The days and nights they had spent together when they were young, times of fiery love and burning passion; then those months, three weeks after the fateful night that changed her life forever, when he had to watch her turn into a cold shell filled with anguish and hatred. She had grown into a pale shadow of her former self. The fire that had burnt in her so brightly was brutally stifled, leaving only ash behind.

The woman flashed a small smile.

"We can never be too old for this."

She tilted her head then pressed her arms to her body. Piandao had been using those arms to support himself, so the sudden move made him lose his balance and he tumbled forward, hitting the grass above the woman's shoulder with his face.

He could feel the body slipping out from below him. It took only a second as he recovered from the collision for the woman to regain her feet. Piandao massaged his head. There was something unusual in her behavior today. He could smell it in the air, and it wasn't the piece of dirt that was stuck in his mustache.

"To what do I owe the honor of this visit Commander?" he asked as he turned towards her.

A white envelope landed next to him.

"I got your letter." The Commander stretched her limbs to release the strain in her muscles that remained from the fight. "Hope this little sparring was enough to put that sword of yours to the test."

"Yes, thank you, it was enough," he mumbled, but his thoughts were far away from the sword.

His attention was now solely focused on the body in front of him. As the Commander stretched her back, Piandao could see her arcing shape and tightening muscles, the smooth, fair skin; even the small drops of sweat running down on her spine, even though all these things were covered by black clothing. His mind evoked these images from his memories, down to the tiniest details.

"Enjoying the sight?"

The mocking comment broke the moment and Piandao suddenly realized that the Commander had noticed his change of interest.

His first thought was that his lack of self-control had successfully ruined their meeting. As a remarkably beautiful woman, the Commander was used to being in the center of men's attention. Back in the old days, she had thrived on this, and the broken hearts she had left behind were beyond count. Piandao himself had been the subject of the Commander's games on more than one occasion, even though their bond was always more than a simple burst of passion. Of course, this changed dramatically after _that_ night. The scars she got then ran much deeper than her flesh – they cut right into her heart and soul, turning desire into bitterness and allurement into repulsion.

Since then, looking at the Commander and seeing the beautiful woman she once was became an insult, something that only fuelled the cold fires of self-contempt inside of her.

Piandao turned away his head in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," he said in apology.

He was prepared for the worst: that the Commander would simply break out in tears and run away or collapse to the ground, grieved beyond comfort. But part of him couldn't brush aside the feeling that she was strange today. Strange, yet familiar.

"Why the apology? You want to ask me out anyway, don't you?"

This hit Piandao completely out of nowhere. As her words hammered their way into his mind, he could feel his remaining composure disintegrating at an alarming rate.

_She wants me to do what?_

The Commander pulled out a large piece of paper from her clothing. It looked like some sort of poster.

"The Boy in the Iceberg…" began the Commander with an excited tone. "…is a new production of critically acclaimed playwright Pu On Tim who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources including singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbages!" She made a brief pause to look at Piandao's reaction, but he was still lost in the part where she wanted him to ask her out. "Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players!"

Piandao gave away a pained groan as the pieces finally slapped together in his mind. From the looks of it, he had slightly underestimated the effects of the invitations he had sent out. He only wanted a sparring partner, but the Commander had put a lot more thought into it. And Piandao was in no position to refuse, since he had had his fight and thus he had an obligation now to fulfill. Yes, he was prepared to repay the favor, but he was thinking about something small, like a cup of Jasmine tea or a good game of Pai Sho.

The Commander handed him the poster so he could give it a look. Piandao had already met the Avatar and his friends so he recognized them instantly on the rather awkward painting on the poster. He quickly glanced over the fluff, as he knew the Ember Island Players far too well to torment himself with the details.

"I don't think that the Ember Island Theater would be a good choice for a date." Piandao said slowly, hoping to perhaps change her mind. "I've heard some rumors about the renewal project of the Kosako Island Hanging Gardens. Maybe we should visit that place instead."

The Commander responded with a disarming smile. "I know you don't like those guys because of how they treated the Way of the Thousand Swords, but this one will be different. Just look at the list of actors!"

Piandao sighed. He glanced through the short list in an instant, and even though it was quite depressing at the beginning, there was a little surprise right at the end.

"…and the guest star is a young talent from the Royal Theater…" he whispered skeptically. "…Horikita Mizuki in the role of…" He froze. He shook his head, refusing to believe what he had just read. Piandao knew the young actress, and he also knew that she would never leave the Royal Theatre to join such a notorious band like the Ember Island Theatre.

"I think they blackmailed her," commented the Commander. "Remember her adventure with the Basilisk? I guess this Pu On Tim bumped into the case while he scoured the world for the Avatar's story. As far as I can recall, Mizuki didn't put much effort into covering it up. Actually, she was quite proud to it."

"The world has changed since then," noted Piandao bitterly. The Basilisk was another person who had stirred mixed feelings in Piandao. But it was a different world back then, and the Basilisk was now little more than a controversial story for the Fire Nation historians.

His thoughts were disrupted by a gentle touch on his face. It was the Commander's hand. She had crouched next to him and now she was looking right into his eyes.

"Things are always changing," she said softly, and Piandao had a feeling that she was referring to something completely different than the Basilisk's case.

As he looked into her green eyes, the feeling only became stronger. There was light in those eyes, the light of glowing embers under the ashes. His impression that the Commander was acting odd suddenly became clear: just as he watched her fire die out many years ago, he was now witnessing the reversal of the process. Something had happened with her, and her old self was now returning, slowly and not unhurt, but yet right there in her eyes.

The Commander who Piandao knew. The woman he loved.

She leaned back, and helped him to his feet.

"I'll take your dreamy face as a sign of agreement if you don't mind," she stated with a smug smile. "And you know what? If the show turns out to be really that terrible, then maybe I'll find a way to compensate you."

With that, she turned around and walked back to the courtyard. Piandao watched her as she disappeared behind the top of the slope, his eyes feasting on the graceful moves of her body like on the rays of sunlight after a long, dark night.

He dusted off his clothes and checked the poster again.

…_And the guest star is a young talent from the Royal Theater: Horikita Mizuki in the role of Suki, the fierce leader of the Kyoshi Warriors!_

His eyes involuntary wandered back to the place where the Commander left only moments ago. Things were changing, and Piandao had a feeling that he would play his part, whether he liked it or not.

It was hard to admit, but he really had become a little bit too old for this.


	3. Part 2: Mutual Support

**PART 2: MUTUAL SUPPORT**

As the airship climbed up into the sky, Suki couldn't help but look back for a moment to the place where she had spent almost five months as a prisoner. The intimidating form of the Boiling Rock grew smaller and smaller until it was just an ugly black stain on the endless blue sheet of the surrounding ocean. Then the airship reached the clouds and the the view through the rear window turned all-white.

She turned away from the windows with a weak sigh on her lips. Maybe the sight of that awful place faded away quickly, but the memories she harbored from there didn't. The time she had spent with the Commander was maybe the best part of her captivity, even though the woman left many embarrassing questions in Suki's head. She was the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior initiates, just as Suki was the leader of the novices, but it was far from the only thing they shared. The Commander denied it, but Suki had a strong feeling that they were closely related – to the point where she seriously suspected the Commander to be her mother.

Thinking back, her suspicions were both fitting and oddly awkward. Suki was raised by Oyaji, the chieftain of Kyoshi Island and his wife, Miho – she never knew her real parents. And while her foster parents loved her like their own child, it still felt a little bit unnatural. The Commander was different. They matched each other both physically and emotionally. And it all came so naturally, like they were always meant to be like this.

Like mother and daughter.

Suki allowed herself a soft smile as she recalled their conversation atop that ballista tower and that night when the Commander slept next to her in the cell to protect her. Their relationship was much deeper than the usual sisterhood of the cadre, yet the Commander had adamantly denied the apparent truth.

It had turned everything upside down, on top of all of Suki's other problems.

Her mood darkened as her mind wandered to the other important person with whom she had become acquainted in the prison. Princess Azula and her game to gain Suki's loyalty was easily the worst thing that ever happened with Suki in her entire life. The princess wasn't the only one to blame for it, however. Suki herself played a part that ultimately led to her defeat, and now, she had to suffer the consequences.

The airship had two levels: the first level was essentially a huge cargo bay, bordered by the bridge from the front and the engineering section from the rear. The second level had the living quarters and the massive main engine. Suki was now standing right next to the wall that separated the cargo bay and the engineering. She had a clear view of the whole first level: the others were all in the bridge, discussing their escape from the Boiling Rock.

This was a good moment to make her move. She slipped away along the wall, until she reached the door to the engineering section. Luckily, it was well-oiled, so it opened up smoothly and silently when Suki pushed it. The room on the other side was dark and haunting, a maze of metal pipe system dotted with the baleful green light of small indicators. It was humming steadily, relaying the power of the engine above to the side propellers.

Suki gulped. Even after five months in that prison of steel, she still hadn't grown accustomed to the technology of the Fire Nation. She could feel the pressure in those pipes as the steam raced through them, driven by enormous forces. It felt like the whole contraption could blow up in her face at any time.

Though, she reminded herself, this feeling could describe her general situation well. She too was under heavy pressure and things were rigged to blow up around her.

She looked around, searching for a certain object the Commander had shown her back when they had been training together. Her eyes quickly spotted the small red box on a desk, just a few steps away from her. She walked to the desk, and checked the box. According to the label on it, it contained the emergency supplies, exactly the stuff Suki wanted. She quickly opened it up and took a bundle of eight small, red rods out of it.

With her prize secured in her hands, she hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind herself. She aimed for the room wedged between the engineering section and the stair to the second level.

Suki couldn't believe that she was doing this. Tears blurred her vision, and her legs weakened under the weight of her intention. She hastened her steps, literally bursting into the room she had chosen. It was a washroom, the only one in the airship. As the door swung back in its frame behind her, Suki took a moment of respite to think over her plan again.

It was simple, yet it placed a huge burden on her shoulders. Back in the Boiling Rock, Azula had forced Suki into cooperation by using the Kyoshi Warriors as hostages. Suki had no illusions about what Azula could do with her sisters and consequently, she had no choice but to help the princess to ensure the safety of the Kyoshi Warriors. She didn't want to risk the life of Aang, Sokka and the others either, but out of the two groups Suki wanted to protect, the Avatar and his friends were still the more capable of repelling Azula.

They would have to fight Azula sooner or later anyway, and when the princess was busy pursuing the Avatar, she wasn't hurting the Kyoshi Warriors.

She stepped to the toilet in the room and lifted the lit. Just as she thought, it was essentially a hole in the bottom of the airship's hull. Looking down through it, Suki could see white patches of clouds and the pale blue of the ocean. She opened up the bundle and took out one of the red rods. It was shaped roughly like a sword hilt, a bit longer than her hand and maybe two fingers thick. It had a bright orange cap on one end, and Suki easily tore it off with a single forceful move.

The rod hissed up, and she tossed it into the toilet. Suki watched as the small object fell through the clouds, exploding into a puff of red smoke just above the ocean. She knew that the rod would project this smoke for hours, even while floating in the water. Everyone within a five kilometers radius would be able to detect this phenomenon and follow its trail.

With this done, Suki stowed the rest of the rods away in a nearby locker for later use. According to her calculations, she had to drop five rods to give Azula a clear line of direction. Five of these chemical flares, and Suki's treachery would be complete. And with that, her Kyoshi Warriors would be safe, for the time being.

The thought left a sour taste in her mouth. Originally, she wanted to share her plans with Sokka, but then she realized that she had to remain unaccountable for all this. The end could favor any sides after all, and Suki couldn't risk selling out Azula. Not yet

She left the washroom with a growing darkness in her heart. No matter how terrible she felt, she still had the will to continue and it made her sick. Suki always envisioned herself as a fiercely loyal person, someone who would never give up and never surrender; and more importantly, never betray her friends. And now there she was, succumbing to all three thankfully to Azula and her wicked cunning.

"Girl wants to kill someone?"

The deep voice cut into Suki's thoughts like a burning knife. She was so embroiled in her inner conflict that she had totally lost track of her surroundings. She didn't even notice Chit Sang approaching her.

"Are you talking to me?"

Her unfriendly reply made Chit Sang flinch. Suki didn't know this man very well; he was a prisoner in the Boiling Rock just like her, and a very problematic one at that. They had only met once, when Suki was with the Commander, and according to her Chit Sang was some sort of political captive as well as a famous architect of the Fire Nation. He was a robust man, and not the prettiest one either, so Suki had a hard time believing that he wasn't an ordinary criminal.

"Sorry for disturbing," he continued, now more respectfully. "I just want to thank you for your help in the escape. We wouldn't have gotten too far without you saving the situation."

"I just did what I had to do."

And with that, Suki walked away. Or at least she tried to, but Chit Sang stopped her, gently grabbing her shoulder as she passed by

"Look, I don't know what you and the Commander are brewing, and for the record, I don't care either." His eyes narrowed as he squeezed out these words. "Just please, have it wait until I leave!"

Suki placed her hand on his and in her mind she stated that she would do nothing more but squash a heap of wet noodles. Chit Sang hissed up painfully as his hand played the role of the wet noodles in Suki's grip.

"And I don't know what you are talking about," she noted coldly, and brushed off his hand from her shoulder. This time, Chit Sang got the hint and quickly scurried away without another word.

Suki followed him with her eyes as he hurried to the stair and disappeared onto the second level. He didn't even look back.

The scene hadn't gone unnoticed though.

"Hey, what was that?" Sokka looked rather upset as he walked to the stairs. "Is that guy into some trouble? If he is, then I can show him the exit!"

This made Suki smile. She quickly stepped into Sokka's way to prevent him from doing anything stupid. The boy's eyes were locked on the spot where Chit Sang had disappeared and from his tightened muscles and clenched fists it was clear that he was ready to retaliate any kind of offence.

"Don't worry, tough guy!" she giggled, gently pushing Sokka back towards the bridge. "I can handle him."

This sparked Sokka immediately. The rage disappeared from his face so that the excitement could take its place.

"Oh yes, about that!" His voice was filled with admiration. "The way you captured the prison warden back in the Boiling Rock… That was awesome! I didn't know that the Kyoshi Warriors could do things like that!" He spun around and tried to mimic some of Suki's moves from the escape. His attempt were amusing but had little resemblance to reality. "And you even fended off Ty Lee! I must admit, I had my doubts there since I couldn't help both you and Zuko, and that circus freak is not an opponent I want to face on the top of a gondola…"

"I handled Azula pretty well!" Zuko protested angrily from behind the wheels of the airship. Sokka's skeptical look quickly disarmed him though. "Okay, your help was appreciated," added the fire prince with a grumble, turning back to the controls.

"Anyway," continued Sokka, a bit more seriously. "I was wondering why you didn't teach me stuff like that back when I trained with you as a Kyoshi Warrior. This is not meant as a rebuke, don't get me wrong, but the ability to climb walls or use people's heads as stairs would have been extremely useful for me in my task to protect the Avatar!"

Suki's smile widened. She was starting to like this goofy side of Sokka. His awkwardness amused her, especially since Sokka was clearly in the dark about his own silliness and it made everything twice as entertaining.

She had had her own share of goofiness in the shape of Kitara, the weapon specialist and self-appointed comedian of the Kyoshi Warriors. But Suki knew well that behind her sister's playfulness lied a deadly warrior and some surprisingly sharp wits to spare. Kitara's smile curved like the blade of her sword and it usually ruined her jokes for Suki.

Sokka on the other hand was much different, honest and unaffected in his heart and that was why Suki loved him.

"We can resume your Kyoshi Warrior training any time you want," she replied sweetly to Sokka's proposal. "I suppose you still have the dress you wore back then."

The whole bridge fell into an awkward silence.

"You wore a dress? For what reason?" Zuko clearly had a hard time comprehending the information.

"I had to follow their traditions, that's why!" barked back Sokka. "And I'll have you know that it was actually a very comfy dress!"

Suki burst out laughing, Zuko soon joining her. Sokka wasn't exactly in the mood to take the joke, but his father, Hakoda gave a smile. He stood up from his chair and walked over to Sokka and Suki, placing his hands on their shoulders.

"I'm glad that my son found you," he said thankfully. "We all owe you with our freedom. If you hadn't captured the warden so quickly back there, we wouldn't be talking here."

Somehow, his acknowledgement rang much better in Suki's ears than Chit Sang comments had. Hakoda was a tall, muscular man, a warrior from head to toe. As Suki looked into his eyes, she instantly knew that they would get along well.

"Thank you," replied Suki humbly.

"I've met with your Kyoshi Warriors back in the Capital Prison," continued Hakoda. "They looked all right as far as I can tell."

This hit Suki like a lightning. She reeled as Hakoda's words reached her mind.

"You… You saw the Kyoshi Warriors?" she stuttered. "Were you in the same cell as them? Were they hurt? Did you see all of them?"

Hakoda backed up a little from the sudden torrent of questions. He massaged his head and Suki could see his lips moving as he tried to form his answers. Panic gripped her heart at the uncharacteristically slow response** - **it had to be a sign of something bad.

"We weren't in the same cell, and I only met with two, a serious leader-looking one, Okocho maybe; and a short, cheeky girl… Penna if I remember correctly."

Okako and Pema, corrected him Suki in her head. She forced herself to remain silent to hear the rest of the water chief's answers.

"They visited us in our prison cell, escorted by three guardswomen." Hakoda continued. "They exchanged a few words with Bato, Tyro and the Boulder, trying to get some information about the outside word, but the guardswomen cut their conversation short. They left quickly but the short girl returned later to get an autograph from the Boulder and the Hippo. It was really odd."

Suki sighed. If Pema really had the time to do such an absurd thing like collecting autographs then maybe they were truly fine.

Yet, for a moment, she entertained a crazy idea: maybe she could bust them free. She could convince Sokka to help, and maybe Aang and the others too. Together, they could sweep in and liberate the Kyoshi Warriors from Azula's grasp.

But the moment passed, and the cold reality quickly brought Suki to her senses. She had tried to outsmart Azula before and it had backfired pretty badly. The fire princess was always a step ahead of her – a fact Suki would never forget. Azula was probably expecting Suki to try and save her warrior-sisters, and she probably had a carefully set up trap just for in case.

No, it was way too risky. If the Avatar had to fight Azula because of Suki, then it would be on even ground and not on Azula's turf. Suki had no illusions that her contribution were going to shift the balance either way, but she had no intention of helping Azula to achieve an easy victory. Or any kind of victory for that matter.

Sokka and Hakoda began to talk about the Capital Prison, but Suki wasn't listening to them anymore. Dark thoughts whirled in her mind as she made another futile attempt to digest her role as a turncoat. She just wanted to tell everything to Sokka and let him fabricate a plan to defeat the fire princess once and for all, but on the other hand, Azula had an almost supernatural ability to outsmart people, and if she emerged victorious against all odds… That would spell certain doom for the Kyoshi Warriors.

Suki had to fulfill her part of the 'mutual support' Azula had forced on her. And while doing this, she also had to trust her friends to keep the princess busy.

The situation was messy, and her ways were dishonorable, but Suki knew that her actions were justified. She drew strength from this, recalling memories of her warrior-sisters to rise over her resentment.

She closed her eyes, and even as the airship ploughed through the clouds over the seemingly endless blue of the ocean, Suki went back to their dojo on Kyoshi Island, reuniting with her sisters once more.

* * *

><p>Red smoke whirled and swirled, trying to find a way through the thick glass of the window. It rose, and then struck down menacingly, taking the shape of some bizarre multi-limbed creature as it splashed against the hard surface. The phenomenon didn't last long though, as a burst of wind blew the patch of smoke away, right into the nearby engines where it disintegrated instantly amongst the whirring propellers.<p>

From the captain's seat of the airship, Azula watched the struggle of the smoke with glee. Her body was still a little bit numb from Ty Lee's chi blocking, and the sight eased her pain. They had just passed through the third pillar of red smoke, and Azula could hear the airship's captain and navigator pondering over the large map behind her over the direction the three flares had shown.

Her smile turned into a frown only when she remembered what had happened in the Boiling Rock. She had had her stupid brother and that Water Tribe peasant boy in her hands, but Mai foiled her victory. Azula was still unsure why the girl did that, and even more disturbingly, she had no idea why Ty Lee sided with the traitor either. Their treason was shocking and whenever Azula recalled the moment when Mai turned against her or when Ty Lee chi blocked her to protect Mai, she couldn't help herself but wonder whether her new position as the only true heir of the Fire Nation made her more vulnerable than before.

Mai said that she had loved Zuko more than she had feared Azula, but it was a lie. Azula could see the terror in the other girl's eyes even as she pulled out her throwing knives to attack the princess. Right there, Mai was little more than a cornered spider-rat, acting out of instincts rather than reason. Her only luck had been when that dull-witted Ty Lee intervened on Mai's side. And other than fear, there was something else too in Mai's eyes: envy. After all, the girl turned against Azula to save Zuko, to prevent her from capturing him. Because the princess had the power to claim Zuko, while Mai didn't, no matter how she loved him.

Azula was the princess of the Fire Nation. She did whatever she wished.

But who was Mai? _Nobody!_ Her so-called noble birth meant nothing compared to Azula's lineage! And she knew it all along! And when the time came, she gave way to her lowly intentions to get on Azula's level by betraying her!

Azula had to bite into her finger to stop the shout of rage that rose in the back of her throat. She could feel her face twisting into a mask of anger and her firebending flaring up violently. She had no idea how many people like Mai lurked in the shadows, waiting to turn against her. Even the mere thought that such vile and disloyal elements existed in her world made her want to blast something into ash with a bolt of lightning.

Eventually, she calmed herself down with the situation at hand. Maybe she was sitting in the middle of a nest of ratvipers, but she still had assets she could rely on. One of these assets was right where Azula wanted her to be.

"Princess Azula!" The navigator of the airship walked to the princess, bowing respectfully before handing her a small map. "According to my calculations, the flares are going to lead us there." He pointed at an island at the top of the map. "The Western Air Temple."


	4. Part 3: The Play

**PART 3: THE PLAY**

Piandao always had a hard time leaving his palace and visiting another place within the Fire Nation. Technically, he was exiled by Fire Lord Azulon himself after he had left the army. He held no rights within the Fire Lord's domain, yet people went to great lengths to show that they still respected his non-existent citizenship. And the reason behind this unusual behavior was simple: everyone in the Fire Nation loved the thought that the best swordsman in the world is a fellow citizen. Their pride was greater than their fear of disobeying the Fire Lord's command.

By the time Piandao reached the entrance of the Ember Island Theater, he had been through at least three dozen formal greetings, all from high-ranking Fire Nation officials. If not for the Commander dragging him through his admirers, he would have been out there still, trapped amongst functionaries, ministers, generals, and politicians.

She was brilliant this night: her graceful shape was wrapped into a heavy silk robe in the color of the deepest black, a stark contrast to her face, which was bright from joy. She didn't even make an attempt to cover her terrible facial scar and from the looks of it, she wasn't bothered by it either. For the first time since they met after that tragic night, Piandao saw a woman free from the darkness that scarred her.

A wonderful sight indeed.

"Hurry up! We should take our seats before the theater gets crowded!" The Commander pulled Piandao through the main hall without stopping. She only slowed down when they reached their box, giving way to a small girl as she rushed out from the door. The woman followed the child with her sharp green eyes, hiding a soft smile behind her golden war fan while doing so.

A small, odd gesture and Piandao couldn't miss it either.

"Ten years ago," she said suddenly, "a girl ran past me just like this. She was playing catch with her sisters so I could barely see her back for a moment as she dashed by." The Commander licked her lips, and her eyes turned empty as she focused to a picture that existed only in her mind. "For fifteen years, I had no idea what my own daughter looked like!" Those sharp green eyes flashed up, and for a moment, Piandao could see a spark of madness in them. "As it turned out, I could have just looked into a mirror!"

Her confession took Piandao by surprise. Now that the real reason behind the Commander's odd behavior came forward, he found himself a little bit perplexed about how to react to this information.

The Commander's daughter was another topic that left Piandao conflicted each time it came up. As his pursuit to perfect swordsmanship filled his time, Piandao had never had the chance to establish long-term relationships other than befriending some other men who had a similar view of life. He didn't have a wife, children or a family; the Commander was the first and only woman in his life.

And then, there was this girl. Roughly a decade ago, Piandao had visited her on Kyoshi Island, chasing a notion that maybe he did have a daughter after all. Even though the Commander was adamant that her girl wasn't Piandao's, he still had a good reason to think differently: the Commander and Piandao had spent several nights together just a few days prior that tragic incident. And when he first saw the little girl, he knew they were connected.

His contemplation was disrupted by an elbow in his side.

"You move like a snail-tortoise!" hissed the Commander and dug her elbow a little deeper into Piandao's side. "Pick up some speed! I don't want to miss the opening scene!"

They took their seats in the front row, and from there, they had a perfect view of the stage. The curtain rolled up only moments after they had sat down, but the Commander still found time to snuggle up to Piandao before the first scene started.

Piandao braced himself for the worst, and for a second, the nightmare became real. Sokka's actor was the same nameless bungler who had ruined the Way of the Thousand Swords with his shameful acting. At that point, Piandao nearly left the theater. The memories of that outrageous and disrespectful play were almost too much for him. As a master swordsman, Piandao had exceptional self-control, but even he had his limits.

However, this play quickly drowned into mediocrity. The story made its best to be accurate and the bad acting was counterbalanced with the dull staging. Sometimes even the casting was spot on: Prince Zuko, Iroh, and King Bumi were perfect, and Mizuki was wonderful, as always – even though her scene was short and that idiot Sokka-actor wrecked its ending.

* * *

><p>The first intermission came quickly, and it was very welcomed by the audience as far as Piandao could see. Servants swarmed into the boxes to bring refreshment to the high-ranking guests sitting there.<p>

Piandao had just finished his glass of water when the young woman arrived. She walked right to them, bowing first to the Commander and then to Piandao.

"Commander… Master Piandao…" she muttered timidly. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

The brown robes she wore only made her plain beauty even more obvious. Her features, her face and her body were all just the better half of average, candlelight in front of the scorching sun that was the almost supernatural beauty of the Commander. The only interesting thing was the slight red tint in her hair, but it was almost unnoticeable.

"Mizuki!" The Commander's voice made the young woman reel a little bit. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"You can join us," added Piandao quickly as he could see the nervousness in the actress' eyes. She had something important to say.

Mizuki sat down next to the Commander. She kept Piandao outside of arm's reach as if she was afraid that he would strike her.

"First, I must say that it is a great honor to be in your company," she began with a heavy breath. "I hope you enjoy the play…"

"We all know that we don't," interrupted the Commander. "You are the only redeeming feature of this pile of boring junk."

"Thank you…"

"So, what do you want from us?"

This was the point where Mizuki's eyes flashed up with fear. She was now clearly panicking and as far as Piandao could determine, the actress was on the verge of crying too.

"You know that they have blackmailed me to perform in this?"

"We thought so," inserted Piandao.

"You should have been more careful with the Basilisk!" added the Commander cheerfully. Mizuki shuddered when the Commander spoke, and it betrayed her for Piandao immediately.

"All I'm going to do on that stage… It wasn't my idea!" Mizuki's voice was now barely audible from the fear. "I don't know how they uncovered all that stuff, and I never wanted to cooperate in putting it into the play either! But they forced me to do it!" The actress suddenly sprang from her seat only to fell on her knees in front of the Commander. "I beg for your pardon! I really do! But I have no choice!"

The Commander and Piandao exchanged glances. In her eyes, he could see that she had no idea why Mizuki was acting like this.

"Okay, I promise I won't be angry at you," said the Commander after a brief moment of awkward silence.

Mizuki bowed even deeper, almost kissing the Commander's feet in the process, then rushed out from the box without saying anything else.

"Blame the mind for the hand's actions," noted Piandao thoughtfully after Mizuki disappeared in the door. The Commander nodded.

"I really wonder what the writers dug up. Mizuki is not the kind of person who tends to freak out like this."

Piandao sighed. He had a very good idea about why the actress was so nervous.

"Mizuki is just an actress."

"She did her research, though." The Commander leaned closer to Piandao, and her voice changed to a whisper. "She visited the Boiling Rock and the Capital City Prison to gather information from the Kyoshi Warriors. She got lost in the Boiling Rock and missed her destination by a few blocks. By the time the word caught me that she was there, she left empty handed."

"You were in the Boiling Rock?" asked back Piandao. "Why?"

The Commander just pinched his nose.

"Not your business!" She leant even closer, her lips almost touched Piandao's ear. "Anyway, she hit the treasure pot in the Capital City Prison. She had a chat with both my initiates and the majority of the novices. The novices aren't really interesting here, but we all know how talkative Aoi and Kazue are. Especially about… a certain topic."

"Oh."

Piandao's dry reaction made the Commander frown.

"Don't 'oh' on me! If they really implemented that story into the play then maybe you will show up too!"

"Well, in that case, I hope I will get a better casting than the Avatar."

Realizing that Piandao didn't come to the same conclusion, the Commander sat back to her place while still staring at him as if she tried to look into his mind. She pouted and her eyes narrowed as she tried to see through Piandao.

He stood her gaze with a gentle smile on his face, but nothing more. For a long moment, they just looked into each other's eyes. Piandao relaxed his thoughts and let the ocean of warm green overtake his mind. He could feel the warmth of love and the breeze of affection. A pulsing wave of fear stirred the image, opening up a small window onto a furnace of ferocity and passion. Pale shadows of hatred were chased by swarming sparks of remorse – each time the fear disturbed the ocean, the shadows lashed out violently against their surroundings but the light of remorse prevented them from growing.

The eye was the mirror of the soul, and Piandao only needed a few seconds to have a read on the Commander through her sharp green eyes. The overall impression wasn't perfect, but it was still much better than the maelstrom of anger and hatred he used to see in those eyes. It was almost as if she had found some sort of inner peace.

They remained like that until the curtains rolled up. The master swordsman and the deadly beauty, eyes and thoughts interlocked in a swirl of emotions.

As the second act of the play began, the Commander turned her head away, blushing, and with a small, embarrassed smile on her face. Piandao almost asked her about the meaning of this smile, but ultimately, he too turned his attention to the stage.

There are things that must remain unanswered for the moment, after all.

* * *

><p>Naturally, the second act let the playwright's fantasy loose, so the story quickly became a hodgepodge of silly misrepresentations. They had cast a large, bulky guy for Toph, the blind earthbender <em>girl, <em>and that was just the beginning. Piandao found the whitewashing of the sandbenders amusing though, as Appa – Avatar Aang's sky bison – was captured by evil Earth Kingdom soldiers in the play instead of the sandbender nomads.

Mizuki's first scene in the act was about the adventure on the Serpent's Pass, and her second scene depicted the Kyoshi Warrior's defeat at the hands of Princess Azula. The Commander endured this one with obvious irritation, as she began to fan herself with her golden Kyoshi Warrior war fan, but nothing more happened.

Then, Mizuki's third scene came, and the world turned upside down.

In the scene, the young actress portrayed Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior novices, in Fire Nation prison clothing and between fitting props that distantly represented a prison cell. There were some extras around her, representing the other Kyoshi Warrior novices. For some weird reason, there were seven of them, even though Piandao knew for sure that there were only six novices other than Suki.

"Oh, the mighty Fire Nation has defeated me and my sisters!" she cried with the usual great identification. Her sad voice was really touching, and a welcomed change after the bland acting of the others. "The elite warriors of the Earth Kingdom and the daughters of Avatar Kyoshi now lay vanquished in a dark and pitiful cell deep in the heart of the Fire Nation!"

"I only wish they were together…" noted the Commander quietly. "It would make things much easier!"

A brawny extra clad in a Fire Nation soldier uniform walked onto the stage, grabbed one of the novice-extras, kissed her, and then dragged her off the stage. The Ty Lee and Mai actresses also stepped into the scene and took away one novice-extra each.

"My warriors are falling!" Mizuki's face changed into a mask of pure terror. It clearly had nothing to do with her role though. "We are doomed! I am doomed!" Now she was looking directly at the Commander from the distance of the stage. The blood froze in Paindao's veins as he realized that his worse fear was about to become true. "Nobody is going to come to help me! My friends are captured or on the run from the fury of the magnificent Fire Nation! My father doesn't even know I exist!" The Commander's eyes suddenly sprung wide open from surprise. "And my mother abandoned me soon after I was born, and despised my existence ever since then!"

Piandao closed his eyes and just listened to the silence that had befallen to the theater after this monologue. Even though he couldn't see her, he could feel as the wife of the couple sitting behind them turned to his husband. He could feel her lips opening, to unleash the final blow.

"She must be a horrible mother!"

That was all. Those few whispered words hit their target instantly, as she was far too aware of her surroundings to miss them.

As he opened his eyes, Piandao saw as the Commander started up from her seat. She covered her mouth with one hand, but her tearful eyes betrayed the emotions that were slowly encroaching on her. Her other hand took a stronger grip on her war fan, and for a moment, it looked like she would explode in a murderous frenzy, turning this play into a bloodbath.

At that moment, Piandao seriously considered this as a likely event, so he readied himself to restrain the Commander. But the darkness fled from her face, only to give place to a surge of pain. The war fan hit the floor as she grabbed at her lower abdomen, and almost collapsed from the agony.

Piandao tried to catch her, but she stormed out from the box before he could get up. Wasting no time, he ran after her, only to find the empty corridor past the door. The Commander was gone, and Piandao knew that he wouldn't find her if she didn't want it.

He sighed, and after a little pondering, he walked away towards the writers' office. Piandao was a big fan of authenticity, but this part was a little bit too accurate, even for him. He had to talk with Pu On Tim to do something with this if he was still alive.

As he turned into the backstage area, he realized that eventually, he had probably got a mention in the play after all.

"_My father doesn't even know I exist!"_ These were Mizuki's exact words.

"Depends on which man we are talking about," added Piandao quietly, so that it better reflected the truth.


	5. Part 4: The Ember Island Players

**PART 4: THE EMBER ISLAND PLAYERS**

Ryu readied himself as the time of his small appearance approached. He adjusted his Fire Nation soldier costume and flexed his considerable muscles to vent off some flutter. He was just an extra, working part-time for the Ember Island Theater, but it had already done remarkable damage on his reputation as a bouncer.

"Just a temporary job to get some money and travel to the colonies," he muttered to himself. "No big deal!"

He got the signal, and walked through the door onto the stage. In the auditorium: the cream of the Fire Nation; on the stage: Mizuki, one of the most celebrated actresses of the country, a bunch of young women around her – extras like Ryu – and the very reason why he was still here, taking part in this stupid play.

Her name was Matsu and she too, was an extra, sitting among the others behind Mizuki, as the scene required it. She was in her early twenties - just like Ryu – with a short stature, waist-long black hair, brown eyes and features that most people considered somewhat ugly, but only when Ryu wasn't around - he loved her long and flat face, small brown eyes, and big hawk nose. She was a perfect match for Ryu's muscular body, perfectly shaved head, chubby face, massive snub nose and tiny golden eyes.

Ryu stepped to her, grabbed her arm, and kissed her. According to their roles, it had to look like a forced act, but they always had a hard time to make it right. For them, the kiss was sweet and passionate, and Ryu drawn her with just as little more force than it created the right impression in the viewers. As their lips separated, Ryu could see her beautiful face blush and her eyes still sparkling with love. He got lost in this captivating spectacle, and almost forgot to drag her out from the stage as the last part of his role. Luckily, another extra – that dumb Atsui who had once called Matsu's beauty_ heinous_ – gave him a small push and he quickly snapped out, taking his beloved Matsu with him from the stage.

Joining the Ember Island Theater was his best idea ever.

* * *

><p>The two young women were sitting in a small dressing room, waiting for the end of the break between the second and third act. One of them was Mizuki, a celebrated actress of the Fire Nation Royal Theater, while the other was Hema, <em>the<em> celebrated actress of the Fire Nation Royal Theater. The former only played in a handful of small scenes as Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors; the latter was none other than Fire Princess Azula herself in the play.

"I still think that you're overreacting to this whole thing," said Hema as she sipped a little tea from her cup.

Mizuki just stared at her untouched tea for a moment before she could gather enough strength to reply. Her stomach was still in a spasm after the last scene and she had difficulties with staying conscious.

"I wish I were," she whispered finally. Her voice was feint, almost inaudible.

"Come on, Mizuki! The Commander is maybe nuts, but she can't blame you for this. Reality is a cruel goddess! At her station, she should know this and take the truth right into the face with a straight back! If she has problems with it, then maybe she should start searching for someone to blame in herself! Isn't that right?"

The young actress just quietly shook her head.

"Okay, then hear me out! We are, like, best friends ever! By Agni, we are almost like sisters! If the Commander dares to hurt you… I mean, I promise… I promise that I'll put all my influence into taking revenge for you!" Hema's head peaked up as she imagined herself leading this campaign of vengeance. "Yeah, I'll ask Fire Lord Ozai to send a whole army after the Commander! And Fire Princess Azula herself will lead this army to the hunt! No, wait, better yet, I'll make the Fire Lord and the Avatar put aside their hostilities and unite to avenge you!"

This made Mizuki smile. Though, she would have preferred someone else to be her protector. He was tall, handsome, and smart, and brave, and nice, and from royal blood…

_And he had been dead for five years._

The realization almost brought back her poor spirits for a moment. Hema was faster though, and gave Mizuki an encouraging hug. It worked, and the dark clouds were scattered once more.

"I'll tell you what…" began Hema with a self-confident smile. "We should look up Pu On Tim and force him to remove that stupid scene! Maybe he knows a thing or two about us, but if he tries to blackmail us again, then we will try to find the Commander herself and make her do the dirty work on our fiendish employer!"

"I would keep clear of the Commander, personally."

"Whatever. Then we will send a message through her husband-wannabe, Piandao."

Mizuki nodded and forced out another smile. Hema's enthusiasm was amusing, but futile. They were no match for the Commander. Nobody was.

* * *

><p>Reichi sat on the toilet and repeated the same lines over and over again, gaining strength by staring at the ceiling so hard, the spot turned black from the original brown. Just as her emotions ran wild in her head, her firebending did the same with her environment.<p>

She had the thankless role of playing Mai, one of the companions of Fire Princess Azula. Reichi hated the role, she hated acting and she hated this theatre. Her parents, however, insisted that she should learn the ways of acting for Agni knew what reason. They were both soldiers, seasoned veterans of many battles, so Reichi had no idea why they wanted to crush their daughter's developing military career. They had pushed her into this troupe instead of accepting her assignment to the War Academy for Girls, and she had been suffering these idiot actors ever since then. She could have learned military-grade firebending by now, but no, she was stuck with playing a boring non-bender.

She sighed and repeated the single line she had for the third act once more. Her character was the stupidest, and worse yet, she had to play with that annoying Yukiko. Everyone knew that Yukiko was only in the play because she was the lover of the writer, Pu On Tim. She was utterly useless and unbelievably nerve-racking otherwise, but maybe that was why she had gotten the role of Ty Lee.

Now came the time when she grinded her teeth and cursed each and every actor, actress and writer from the Ember Island Players to die the most miserable death ever. This always helped her to calm down.

With her anger, her firebending also began to rise as she went through the names and all sorts of creative and sadistic manners of death. As she reached Quannik – the actress playing Katara - and that nameless moron who played Sokka - Reichi was sure that his name was in fact Sokka too – her firebending swung a little bit. Not much, but it was still enough to make the black spot on the ceiling slightly bigger. She knew this feeling. It signaled a big source of fire or a powerful firebender nearby. Reichi was very sensitive to these things, and she had a great future as a firebender because of this…

Her thoughts were interrupted by sounds of retching. A woman was having a bad day in this restroom.

Reichi peaked out from the toilet and she could really see a woman standing in the middle of the rest room, with head lowered and a small puddle of puke in front of her feet. Her short, thick, almost fur-like auburn hair covered her face so Reichi couldn't recognize her but the black robe the woman was wearing gave a hint of a strong, well-shaped body underneath.

The woman looked up and finally noticed Reichi. The actress on the other hand finally got a good view on her face. The left side belonged to a beautiful woman, with mild and soft features, strong lips, and sharp green eye; the right side belonged to a true warrior, with all the beauty ruined by a large, terrible scar that ran from the middle of her temple through her surprisingly intact eye to the edge of her lips. It was an awe-inspiring sight to behold for Reichi. On some places, the scar was deep enough to show the white of the skull, and the disfigured, badly healed flesh around it spoke for an almost inhuman toughness. No ordinary person should have survived a wound like this.

Reichi only hoped that she would become a woman like this: a walking icon of war, marked by the fury of her opponents for a life. This was her dream since her childhood, to fight, to taste victory and defeat, and to bring the glory of war to all corners of the world.

Her idol only growled and turned to a nearby washbasin to clean her face with some fresh, cold water.

This was the point when Reichi realized that destiny had just presented her a chance to break out from this place. Maybe if she could befriend this fascinating war hero, the woman would allow her to join the ongoing war on her side! Curse the War Academy for Girls and all the fools who waste their time there! Reichi was going to learn the art of fighting from a tested warrior!

She stepped out from the toilet, and tried to look confident. Her awful costume and wig almost ruined her entry, but she straightened her back just in the right time to get the right expression.

The woman didn't react to her appearance in any way. Reichi felt the power of fire coming from her, or, to better say, _beyond_ her. It was odd, like watching a high-power furnace through a tiny window. This woman wasn't a firebender, she only had some sort of spiritual connection to an extremely powerful one.

Reichi took a big breath.

"Excuse me..." she addressed the woman. "May I help you?" Her voice wasn't shaky at all, and it was a good sign.

"Leave me alone."

Not the best answer, that was sure. The woman was clearly moody, but Reichi couldn't stop. She needed this chance, right here and right now.

"Can I get you a drink?"

The woman's eyes were fixated on her mirror image. For a seemingly infinite moment, it looked like she would simply ignore Reichi completely.

"Leave me alone!" the woman snapped suddenly, just as Reichi started to step a little bit closer.

Something odd was going on, maybe a ritual of some sorts. The woman placed her right hand on her mirror-image, covering up the scarred side of her face.

Uncertain with this turn of events, Reichi decided to make a final push.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?"

Reichi could only catch a small glint of the woman's eyes as she finally turned towards her, but it was enough to scare her witless. The depthless, all-consuming hatred in those green eyes were well beyond Reichi's petty understanding, and for once, she felt lucky for that.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The bestial scream that left the woman's throat was not like anything Reichi had experienced. Her mind was overrun with primal fear, like lowly prey witnessing the fury of the apex predator. If she had stayed for even a second longer, this woman would have torn her into pieces, limb-by-limb, so Reichi ran, ran faster than she ever had before.

Behind her, the Commander howled her rage at the world, and smashed the mirror and most of the thick wooden wall behind it with a single lightning-fast punch.


	6. Part 5: The Flare

**PART 5: FLARE**

The red smoke of Suki's last flare splashed against the tall cliff she was standing on and quickly found its way upwards, toward the clear night sky. A small white trail followed the puff of smoke, and then it was over, the flare finally exhausted itself after three hours of burning.

"Finally!" she whispered for herself.

She had chosen this cliff and the large bay under it carefully. It was conveniently far away from the camp of Aang and the others, and more importantly, it was easy to notice from the air.

Suki chose this place because she decided to clear her mind from the taint of treachery and use the last flare to set up a simple trap for Azula. If the princess had appeared, Suki would have challenged her in single combat. She had the technique to do it now, since the Commander had taught it to her in the Boiling Rock: it was "rulebending", the ability to execute amazing physical feats with pure willpower. Suki had used it to bust out from the Boiling Rock and she could feel that she had a natural knack for this potent technique. She would have killed Azula easily with it…

…if she had shown up. But the princess had seemingly given up on the chase. Suki had conflicting feelings about this. She felt relieved to be free from doing this stupid "mutual support" – she couldn't help someone who wasn't around her. On the other hand, she was afraid that if Azula wasn't chasing the Avatar, then her attention would turn towards the Kyoshi Warriors.

Luck wasn't with her nowadays. Last night, Zuko caught her while she tried to sneak into Sokka's tent for a romantic date, and she had to go back to the tent she shared with Katara to avoid further embarrassment. That was really a waste of a good night…

Her contemplating was interrupted by cautious footsteps from behind her. Someone was trying to be really sneaky, but Suki's sharp senses were hard to foil.

She looked up to the full moon and threw her head back to enjoy the light of the stars.

The person sneaking up to her tumbled in a rock, and his pained hiss quickly changed into a muffled scream as he probably fell into a ditch. Suki listened to his panting and grumbling as he struggled to his feet and continued his sneaky approach like nothing had happened.

"There is another one just a few steps ahead," Suki noted loudly. She didn't want to break the moment for him, but she was also afraid that his meeting with the other rock would be less fortunate than a simple tumbling.

"I will take this as a suggestion to improve my stealth abilities…" Sokka's voice was filled with disappointment.

"It was an appreciable attempt."

"You are just too kind with me."

He finally reached her, and as Suki looked towards him, she found herself facing a huge bunch of flowers. It was hard to see what they were, but in the moonlight, it seemed like Sokka had gathered one from each and every flower on the island. At least a dozen different shades of silver smiled at her from a dozen differently shaped petals. Some of the flowers actually had a rather odd color, and when Suki touched them, she found their surface freezing cold.

"Those are a little bit older," explained Sokka. "I asked Katara to freeze them so that they didn't wither."

"Older?" asked back Suki with surprise. She gently took the flowers from Sokka, only to realize that the frozen plants were definitely not from this island.

"Yeah… I have been collecting flowers for some time…" He massaged his head, and even though the darkness, Suki could see him blush. "Momo ate some of them, so it isn't the whole collection…"

"I think they are beautiful." Suki leaned forward, and kissed Sokka on the cheek. "Thank you."

This perked him up a little bit.

"You really like them?"

Suki allowed herself a soft laugh. She had no idea why Sokka was so awkward, he acted like giving flowers to a girl would be wrong or something.

"Of course I do! Why? Do you think that I should be offended? Because from the looks of it, you do!"

Sokka didn't take her joking very well though. He silently walked to the ledge of the cliff, and sat down on it, with his legs swinging above the rocky depths. After a short moment of puzzled pondering, Suki joined him.

They just sat next to each other for a few seconds under the watch of the full moon, without saying anything, but staring at the endless horizon of the ocean in front of them quietly. Finally, Sokka broke the silence.

"My dad said that I shouldn't give flowers to a girl until marriage…"

"Poor advice," inserted Suki, but Sokka just shrugged.

"…and I should retain maximum aloofness if I want the girl to notice me."

"Your dad isn't a big womanizer, is he?"

"He got mom with these tactics, so maybe there is some truth in them."

"They are stupid. That's all."

Sokka scratched his chin and moved a little bit closer to Suki.

"Suki, can I ask you something?"

As an answer, she threw herself into his arms and surprised him with a kiss. This caught Sokka unprepared, but after a moment of surprise, he kissed back.

"Yes, I love you," she said after their lips parted.

"I love you too, but that wouldn't have been my question."

This hit Suki on a sensitive spot. She thought that they would spend some lovely time together here, but from the looks of it, Sokka had something else in his mind. Suki almost took offense on this.

"What is it?" Sokka shuddered as he noticed the irritated tone in Suki's voice. He needed a few seconds to get himself together again.

"Well, you are the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors and a Kyoshi Warrior yourself."

"Yeah…"

"And I'm sure you came into the problem when you had to make a decision that would be good for you but bad for the Kyoshi Warriors." He defensively raised his hands. "Theoretically, of course! I'm not saying that you are a bad leader, just presenting a feasible scenario!"

Suki was just a bad word away from punching Sokka in the face with the flowers. She didn't like where this conversation was going, especially since Sokka's "scenario" was way too similar to her current situation.

"Just get to the question," she said coldly.

"Okay... Okay… So how would you make this kind of decision? What method would you use to evaluate the possible outcomes?"

"Sokka, what have you done?"

"Nothing!" Sokka bit his lower lip to endure Suki's menacing stare, but it didn't help him. "Maybe I made a decision that will affect a few people quite negatively… And by a few, I mean _a lot_."

This eased Suki's mood. Sokka was bouncing back and forth with this conversation, so he was really clueless about her current feelings. His timing was unfortunate, but it wasn't his fault.

She turned back towards the ocean, her eyes focused on the big spot of light on the water: the reflection of the full moon. According to Oyaji - her foster-father – 'Suki' meant 'moon' in the ancient language; and now she gathered strength from her eponym to give way to the brightness through the dark clouds in her mind.

Her lips slowly curved into a soft smile. The effort came surprisingly easily to her.

"I would always choose in favor of my Kyoshi Warriors," she started her answer thoughtfully. "I'm their leader, and more importantly, they are my sisters. Their well-being far outweighs mine." A teardrop ran down on her face as the memories of her missing warrior-sisters clawed into her heart. She quickly wiped it away. "Otherwise, I wouldn't think much about the decision. I would just trust my instincts and pick the option I like the most."

"Wouldn't you be afraid that you made a mistake?"

"If I made a mistake, then I would fix it." _Way to heed your own advice_, she added in herself bitterly.

"That makes sense…" Sokka pulled out a small item from his belt, and handed it to Suki. It looked like some sort of dagger, with a waved blade, made from wood. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was in fact a very poor Unagi sculpture. "I've made this for you too. I couldn't remember how the Unagi looked like exactly, but I think it still turned out to be pretty accurate!"

Suki rewarded him with a hearty laugh. She launched herself sideways, rolling into Sokka's lap face-to-face. She didn't waste time to wrap her arms around his neck and passionately kiss him. This time, Sokka was ready for it and even though they were still balancing over the edge of the cliff, he pushed his body forward, against Suki's.

She wanted this moment to last forever, and Sokka probably felt the same, but she had to end it. She pushed forward, towards the slope that led to the cliff. Sokka gave in to the urging and crawled back, away from the ledge. Suki broke the kiss as soon as they were wholly on the ground.

"So what is the deal with your bad decision?" she asked playfully.

Sokka just flashed a sly smile.

"I'll tell you for a kiss!"

"First the decision, then the kiss!" Suki bargained, but Sokka wasn't so easily thwarted. He suddenly lunged forward, trying to steal his kiss, but Suki was faster and pushed him back, to the ground. "Amuse me with your nonsense, and you can have your kiss!"

"Okay, okay!" Sokka tried to struggle himself free, but Suki caught his arms and pinned him down. This finally calmed him down. "We had a talk with Aang, you know. About how we should proceed now, as we have Zuko in the team." He pouted, like he was trying to remember something important. Then his eyes brightened up as he found the missing information. Suki's slightly offended stare helped him a lot in this. "Oh, and we have you too! _Especially_ you! So, we were talking about… stuff, and we decided that maybe we should take a break until Aang truly masters firebending. I mean, a break that would last pretty long. After-Sozin's-Comet-long, to be exact."

Suki raised an eyebrow. If this was the big bad decision, then Sokka was concerned for nothing. She found it pretty reasonable, all things considered. Yes, maybe it prolonged the Fire Nation dominance, but it was still better than risking another defeat.

She had the urge to tell this to Sokka, but she gulped it back. She wasn't in the mood to ponder the topic, especially considering her own situation. It was pretty clear why Sokka was so worried: the Fire Nation would probably use Sozin's Comet to subjugate the Southern and Northern Water Tribes, laying waste to his home in the process, and hurting the people he loved. Yet, he had chosen to keep the greater picture in mind when he had made his decision, putting aside his personal concerns.

The thought that Sokka had managed to do this while Suki had failed to her selfish motives left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Don't tell me!" interrupted Sokka. "It was a really-really bad decision! But I can't help it! It sounded okay back when we talked about it with Aang!" His face flinched, and Suki could see the shadow of regret fleeing through it. "You are now angry at me, right? I can see it on your face…"

Suki just sneered. She enjoyed how Sokka was in the dark about her.

"So, you are now a people person, huh?" She loosened her arms and legs, putting a little more of her own weight on Sokka just to underline her words. "I think your plan sounds alright. Knowing the circumstances, I would probably make the same decision. If it later turns out to be faulty, then I'm pretty sure that together, we will sort it out somehow."

Sokka's face instantly brightened up.

"That's true!" He flashed a self-important smile, as if he had just discovered the meaning of life. "Maybe I should worry less about the future and just go with the flow. Trust my instincts. Jump into the thick of things and plan on the run. Yeah, I can definitely give it a try!"

"You are definitely up to the task, Bad Decisions Guy!"

Her mocking comment clearly hit a sensitive point on Sokka. His worrisome expression changed into an offended one, and he made an ultimately futile attempt to free himself. "_Bad Decisions Guy_?" he protested. His voice rang with a mixture of embarrassment and sulkiness. "This one case is the exception, and not the rule! I do make good decisions! Or at least semi-good ones!"

"Like infiltrating a top security Fire Nation prison with a renegade prince whose identity is literally written on his face?"

"We freed you at the end!"

"I tend to think that I freed you!" Suki's smile widened as her sting hit the spot on Sokka. He tried to put up an angry face, but he was doomed to fail.

"At least I'm not afraid from flying!" he murmured with resignation, but his words took Suki completely by surprise.

"I'm not afraid of flying!"

Sokka's face brightened up as he realized that he had just took the upper hand.

"Oh, you do! I saw the smoke of the emergency flares you dropped into the ocean while we were flying to the Western Air Temple! And then, you hesitated to get on the back of Appa too! You are afraid of flying. Admit it."

He tried to emphasize his teasing with a smug grin, but Suki was faster and she kissed him before he could consolidate his small victory.

"_My boyfriend is a complete idiot,"_ she thought, _"but that's why I love him so much!"_

Their doubts quickly slipped away in the arms of the other. The world and its problems ceased to exist, as for that night, they had each other.


	7. Part 6: Balcony Conversation

**PART 6: BALCONY CONVERSATION**

Piandao only stopped in front of the lady's restroom to check out if everyone was okay. A traumatized actress crying uncontrollably, a smashed wall, and three confused guards later he was on his way to the only place he could find the Commander.

The theater had a large balcony on its north-western corner that had a beautiful view of the coastline, especially on clear nights like the current one. It was a favored place for lovers to meet, as it was secluded yet offered a perfect sight for some romance. Piandao himself visited it quite a few times when he was young, always with the same red-haired girl.

Now it was empty sans a shadowed figure leaning against the balustrade right in the opposite end of the entrance. She was brooding there silently, watching the full moon weeping its silver light into the ocean.

Piandao approached her carefully, not sure how she would react to his presence. She had certainly noticed him when he entered the balcony, but she remained motionless and quiet. The lack of reaction puzzled Piandao for a moment, as he was waiting for something much more drastic. His confusion was short lived though, as his heart finally found the answer to the situation at hand.

"It is a beautiful night, isn't it?" he asked thoughtfully as he walked next to her.

The Commander just nodded. Piandao couldn't see any tears in her eyes, only a little redness on her face. She didn't look sad, but more like angry.

"Sorry for the theater," she whispered as an answer. "I had no idea that Pu On Tim would go this far."

Piandao forced out a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about him. I've had a talk with him soon after you disappeared. He promised that he would cut out those parts from the play as soon as possible."

"What a nice guy!" hissed the Commander bitterly. "He is lucky that I don't have the tolerance for his kind right now…"

A heavy silence settled on them. Piandao turned around and put his back against the balustrade so that he could be face to face with the Commander. They looked into each other's eyes, and Piandao noticed that the scar on the Commander's face grew paler for some reason. It barely resembled a scar, it looked more like a network of very deep creases, and as the shadows flooded her face, they smoothed out the uneven areas, hiding the scar under a cloak of darkness. Maybe it was just a play of light, but for a moment, Piandao saw the woman he had loved in her unscathed beauty. A beauty wrapped in darkness, yet she was still there.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Piandao's question made the Commander even gloomier. She turned away from him, but to his biggest surprise, she didn't leave his question unanswered.

"You asked why I had been in the Boiling Rock… I was there because _she_ was there too. Azula separated her from the novices to confuse them. When I heard about this, I sent my initiates to infiltrate the Capital City Prison, while I embarked to do the same in the Boiling Rock. I don't know why I decided to finally meet with her, to be honest." She smoothed back her auburn hair to calm herself down. "We had a bumpy start: I accidentally frightened her when we first met, and for some time, she looked at me with distrust, afraid that I would hurt her. However, we warmed up to each other quickly. We are so much alike, and it felt so natural and comforting to be with her… She isn't just my sister, but my _daughter_." The Commander sighed, and she turned back to Piandao. Her face was now a reflection of the great internal turmoil she was suffering from, but it was nothing like before: instead of the pain and the hatred, Piandao could only see perplexity and regret. "When I decided to abandon her, I thought that I was making the best decision. After what happened between her and me in the Boiling Rock, I know that it was actually the _worst_. For fifteen years, I stubbornly denied the fact that I failed my duty as a mother, that there was a girl out there who needed me – and I needed her too. I made my life miserable for no real reason, but because I was afraid to raise her as my own. Even worse, I made my daughter an orphan in the process… Now, I know why Lien and the other older Kyoshi Warriors think that I'm an oath breaker…"

"As far as _I _know, you had a reason behind that decision. And it wasn't your first decision concerning her either." Piandao's calming words soothed the Commander's mood somewhat.

"Yes, I risked her life with my own multiple times, and the first moonlight after her birth found me pointing a knife to her tiny chest. Sure, she should feel lucky that I left her alive!" The sardonic tone of the Commander's voice didn't elude Piandao, but he chose to ignore it with a frown.

"I'm not talking about that. You weren't yourself back then. The things you had endured changed you. Others would have fared much worse in your stead."

"Please, don't make excuses for me!" she hissed up angrily upon hearing this. "I know what I've done! Do you really think that cowering behind my weakness would really make things any better for _her_?"

There was a sharp reply on Piandao's tongue to this question, but he swallowed it. With each passing moment, the Commander became more and more confused. Her voice was flickering, and her eyes were bright from sparks of madness. It was clear that her newfound peace was still fickle and her inner struggle dangerously drawn out.

He decided to divert the conversation towards a seemingly much more positive topic. "What happened between you and her in the Boiling Rock?"

The Commander's mood immediately eased, and her face changed from angry to dreamy. She even allowed herself a soft smile. The sudden change dumbfounded Piandao, as he was counting on a much more subtle transition. His worries for the Commander's mental health slightly increased.

"We just became acquainted," she sighed with obvious delight. "I gave her some extra training so that she would be better fit to face the world. I tried to make her life as comfortable as possible in the prison. I protected her when I had to, and tested her when it was the time to part. In return she questioned me, tried to exploit me, often displaying tactless or arrogant behavior, getting herself into trouble or forcing sensitive matters." Her smile widened, and Piandao couldn't miss how her eyes were fixated on the dark horizon, yearning to relive what had happened between the two again. "Overall, we were like mother and daughter."

Piandao stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She responded slowly, turning towards him and returning the gesture.

"She only suspects it, and I refused to admit that I'm her mother," spilled out the Commander suddenly. This found Piandao a little bit unprepared, but luckily for him, the Commander's head was on his chest, so she couldn't see his horrified face. "She gave me strength to leave my past behind, but I still failed to fully embrace our reunion. I… I just couldn't do it. I'm really a horrible mother…"

"She will understand," said Piandao gently. "Just give it some time."

The Commander buried her face into his robe and tightened her hug.

"Thank you."

Piandao gulped back a sigh. He has gained a valuable insight of the situation this night, and the more he pondered it, the more he wanted to stay out of it.

However, he also had a strange feeling that his involvement wouldn't end here at all.

A long silence settled on them as they remained in each other's arms for quite some time. Finally, the Commander pushed herself away slightly, and looked up to Piandao with a sly smile on her face.

"So… I promised you a compensation in case the play turned out to be horrible."

Piandao returned the smile.

"I think it was actually pretty good. At least better than their usual performance."

"Come on, it was atrocious!"

They both laughed on this. The heaviness of their previous conversation disappeared, and Piandao could see the Commander in her new, relieved form again, free from the daemons that tormented her in the past. With his thoughts, his attention too slipped for a moment, and it was enough to allow the unthinkable to happen.

The Commander suddenly leant forward, and kissed Piandao on the lips. The last time she had done this – or at least tried to do this – many years ago, she had given him a short, numb kiss soured by the blight of anguish and hatred. This one, however, was long and passionate, intensified by carnal lust and fierce love. It set Piandao's whole body on fire, and by the time he regained his senses, things had already proceeded to a point that was quite inconvenient for him.

He needed every bit of his willpower for the feat, but Piandao still managed to regain his self-control. He gently broke the kiss, and made a step back to gain some breathing room. His heart was pumping like crazy, tiny stars exploded into dazzling white light in the corners of his sight, and for a moment, he was sure that his aging body couldn't take the pressure and he would pass out. The obvious disappointment on the Commander's face that was slowly turning into anger wasn't helping him either.

"Sorry, but this would be quite inappropriate here and now…" he mumbled as an apology.

"Let me guess, we are too old for this," came the cold reply.

"I am, I'm afraid."

The Commander surrendered with a sigh. Her expression changed back to a happy one, and after some contemplation, she grabbed Piandao's hand and led him out from the balcony.

"Come on greybeard, we can still catch the end of the third act! I want to see that crazy Ozai actor making fun out of our Fire Lord one more time at least!"

Piandao followed the love of his life into the darkness of the corridor without saying anything more.


	8. Part 7: The Girl and the Master

**PART 7: THE GIRL AND THE MASTER**

Suki's fourth attempt to explain her association with Azula to Sokka was foiled by no less than General Iroh himself. The old grandmaster of the Order of the White Lotus came to congratulate Sokka for his grandiose plan of attacking the Fire Nation Capital during the Day of the Black Sun, and almost succeeding in ending the war with one fell swoop.

His interruption was really unfortunate and ill-timed, but Suki didn't want to push her own conversation against Iroh's, so she politely left the two to talk about battle plans, while she bean to explore the White Lotus camp a little bit more.

Between the white tents, the air was tense from the preparations for the arrival of Sozin's comet. People hurried left and right, or talked in small groups. They barely noticed her, and when they did, it was quite embarrassing for her. Some of them acted like they knew her, even though they never met before. A short, obese man wished her good luck, and a woman with the blackest hair Suki has ever seen expressed her sympathy for a certain 'Ilesh's' death.

Suki tried her best to manage the situation, even though she had no idea who these people were. Some of them felt familiar from the Commander's stories she used to tell to Suki between trainings in the Boiling Rock, but she never really paid attention to them, so she was still touching the unknown when she thanked or returned each gesture as it was appropriate.

Eventually, she found the tent she was looking for. It was easy to recognize as it had a hastily made practice yard and a rack of training swords in front of it. An older, stout man was in the middle of packing away some equipment, and when he noticed Suki, he quickly looked away and doubled his efforts to show that he had no time for her. So she simply walked past of him, right to the entrance of the tent and pulled away the heavy sheet that served as its entrance.

"May I come in?"

Her question remained unanswered. She took it as a 'yes' and stepped in. The inside of the tent was simple, with only minimal furnishing in exemplary order and no decoration at all. It was a warrior's place and Suki quickly became comfortable with it.

In the middle sat a dark-skinned man with short, black hair and a fitting beard. His grey eyes were wide open from surprise, and in his hands, he held a straight longsword and a whetstone. From the looks of it, Suki had interrupted his sword-sharpening, but it was quite evident that her appearance had much bigger weight than his current occupation.

Master Piandao looked at her like he was seeing a ghost. They had met briefly before, when the Order of the White Lotus revealed themselves to Suki and the others at the walls of Ba Sing Se, but this was the first time they were in private, and Piandao clearly wished to avoid this.

"How can I help you?" Piandao's voice was shaky from embarrassment.

Suki stepped closer and sat down in front of him.

"I just want to talk," she said defiantly. Piandao hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded.

"Well, I suppose we can do that." He put away the sword and the whetstone. "You are here with questions in your head." Now it was Suki's time to nod. "Then let's hear them. I will answer to the best of my ability."

"As you probably know I've spent some time in the Boiling Rock as a captive," Suki began, and Piandao nodded again. "During my stay there, I met with a woman called 'Commander' and she introduced herself as the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior initiates." A dark shadow passed through Piandao's face when Suki mentioned the Commander by name. "She shared many personal stories with me, and from them, I know that you two were lovers in the past."

"We were." His voice slipped maybe, but this almost sounded like _'We are.' _Suki let it slip. She didn't want to dig into Piandao's private life.

"The Commander was nice to me, but I have the feeling that she wasn't honest." Now, as the time for the most important part approached, Suki could feel her determination wavering. She took a big breath, and with that, enough strength to continue. "You probably know her much better than I do. So, may I ask you to tell me who she is exactly?"

Piandao sighed, but in a way that made Suki think that he had done this quite a few times nowadays. His brooding expression as he lowered his head for a moment and massaged his temple signaled a much heavier story than Suki had expected.

"Everyone knows her just as the Commander," he began with a heavy voice. "Even I don't know her real name. She is the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior generation that precedes yours, and many see her as the supreme leader of the whole cadre. She is a strong woman and a deadly warrior, who bears terrible scars from a failed assassination mission." He took a brief pause to look right into Suki's eyes. "That's everything I know about her."

It was hard to admit, but Piandao was so bad at lying that even Suki could see through him. The anger and the disappointment rushing through her almost burst forth from her heart, but she beat back the urge to say something nasty in the final moment.

"What do you know about my family?" At this point, Suki was just pushing this conversation blindly, as it was obvious for her that Piandao wouldn't really answer any of her questions. "The Commander told me that my father did terrible things with my mother. Is this true?"

"They both did terrible things with the other," answered Piandao cryptically.

"And what's the Commander's role in this?"

The question confounded Piandao for a split second, but he quickly regained control over his emotions.

"She was the one who fought your father. Your mother… she only suffered the consequences of the Commander's actions."

Suki suddenly found herself running the same circles with Piandao as with the Commander. When Sokka had talked about the legendary swordmaster who had trained him, Suki had imagined a man much more sincere than this.

She decided to change tactics and go for a counter-attack.

"The Commander told me a different story." Her eyes narrowed as she tried to retain her focus so that Piandao would see that she was serious. "I have the right to know the truth. Please, if you don't want to talk about this, then just tell me. Just don't lie to me."

* * *

><p>Piandao almost cut himself with his sword while sharpening it when the girl appeared in his tent. He knew that she would come - it was inevitable in the greater scheme of things – yet, it still felt like the scorching first rays of the rising sun for a traveler lost in the desert.<p>

The following conversation wasn't much better either. He was expecting someone like the Commander, but instead, the girl proved herself to be very different from her mother. Yes, they resembled each other physically: the soft features, the strong lips, and of course the thick auburn hair, but the similarities ended there. The girl was strong and assertive, and not wily like her mother. The Commander would trick him to reveal the truth – the girl simply told him to do so.

This alone put the seeds of doubt into Piandao's head. The Commander's reliability hadn't been very good for quite some time, but her obviously wrong description of her own daughter made Piandao rethink his position in this story. Maybe it was just an oversight as the Commander had projected too much into the girl, but he couldn't shoo away the thought that it was intentional, at least to some extent.

Now, there he was, stuck between a rock and a hard place. The girl had spoken well: she had the _right_ to know the truth. On the other hand, he had vowed to the Commander that he would never unveil the story without her consent. And the Commander sure didn't want it to happen, especially for the girl in front of him.

He knew that he would have only one chance with this. Piandao carefully weighted every possible outcome before he opened his mouth, being aware that out of all, he had to push this conversation towards the only good way.

"What I'm going to tell you now must stay between us." These words drew the girl a little bit closer. Her eyes opened wide from curiosity and excitement. "I was with your mother when all those things happened with her. She spent five months living in my mansion, hiding from her hunters. During this time, I watched as darkness consumed her, and turned a lively woman into an embittered creature of hatred. In her deranged state of mind, she even turned against the tiny spark of light that still remained in her." Piandao took a brief moment of pause to calm down as the memories surged forward, poisoning his thoughts with terrible images. "She was too powerless to achieve anything though, and over time, she became withdrawn and quiet. Unable to stifle the light that was slowly growing inside of her, she became obsessed with it. When you were born, this light left her with you, and darkness reclaimed her heart once more, making her abandon you."

"This is the story I know from the Commander," interrupted him the girl impatiently. "But what's the deal with her? How is she connected to my parents?"

"The Commander was with your mother all along. She became a tool of vengeance for her, and almost every day she snuck out to try to kill your father for what he had done. Later, as your mother's condition worsened, she too drew back to be with her. I must say, the Commander's influence wasn't… the best. Things would have worked out much better if their fates hadn't intertwined."

"Is the Commander the reason my mother abandoned me?" The girl's voice was shaky from the shock. She concealed her feelings pretty well, her face had been a display of determination ever since she had entered the tent, but small signs like her voice betrayed her constantly.

"No, not really. It was your mother's decision."

Upon hearing this, the girl moved a little bit closer to Piandao.

"What about my father?"

This question hit Piandao flat-footed. He should have seen it coming, but by some strange reason, it still made him shudder. Maybe it was just the personal nature of the topic, but for the first time during the conversation, Piandao had the urge to simply stay silent and not even try to answer.

"Sorry, but I don't know your father," he muttered eventually, and to his biggest surprise, the girl didn't push the topic.

"That's all I wanted to ask." She stood up, and Piandao did the same. "Excuse me for the trouble."

As she turned around to leave, Piandao couldn't help but try to talk with her a little more. Their little conversation had been short and rather gloomy so far, but he wanted more. Something more meaningful. Something that would offer answers for him.

"Wait! There is something else I want to tell you." This made the girl turn back instantly. She seemed surprised, but also eager to continue. "Maybe your story is far more complicated than you thought it was, but you must know that the people who cared about you back then still do, even after all those years. And it isn't just about your mother and the Commander. There were others, keen on watching over you and, perhaps, raise you as their own. Suki…" The name rolled down from Piandao's tongue with a weight that crushed his heart. Finally calling someone by this name again invoked phantoms of old memories in his mind, reliving all those good times in a single moment. "Even as you walk on a path that is surrounded by darkness and lies, you mustn't forget that you are not alone. You never were, and you never will be."

Suki gifted Piandao with a small smile.

"I thought that it wouldn't be that easy," she admitted. "The Commander prepared me for the worst."

Piandao returned the smile. He found her last sentence true in regard to his own situation too.

"She just wants to protect you."

"I know."

A heavy silence fell upon them for a moment. Then, like obeying a higher command, they hugged each other. It came naturally, as if they had been always meant to do this. For Piandao, it felt surprisingly intimate: holding her in his arms was the closest he had so far for a family of his own. For a second he could sincerely believe that he was holding his own daughter, even though they barely knew each other.

"Come on, you still need a few things for today's battle," he said eventually. "I've made the preparations; the eelhound is waiting for you just behind this very tent."

"An eelhound?" she asked back as they broke the hug and began to leave the tent. "Shouldn't we have some sort of air-bound transportation instead?"

"Sokka has told me that you are afraid of flying."

This made Suki frown, but her face quickly brightened up.

"He is in a serious misunderstanding."

"_Aren't we all?" _added Piandao to himself. As he stepped out from his tent after Suki, he seriously considered telling her everything, and just giving up on the Commander and her complications.

But the timing was inconvenient now, as soon both of them would be fighting a battle that would decide the fate of the world. He had no concerns about the girl, but she would need all her strength to succeed. Unsettling her with the full story would be unwise now, so Piandao decided to pass the opportunity for a time being.

He shook his head. Ever since that night with the Commander, Piandao had had a growing dubiousness about the whole situation. He didn't know whether he could trust the Commander with this. He didn't know whether he could trust himself either. And now, he was no longer sure whether he wanted to know the truth.

Setting things right after all those years was much harder than it sounded, Piandao could already give this one to the Commander. However, stretching it any further didn't help either. Suki was already much closer than she thought, only one obvious step away from the full story.

In many ways, one obvious step away from a disaster.


	9. Part 8: Reunion

**PART 8: REUNION**

Three weeks have passed since Sozin's Comet, and Suki was starting to lose track on the actual number of Kyoshi Warriors under her command.

It all begun on the first week, when Zuko asked her to watch over the Royal Palace with her Kyoshi Warriors until he could reorganize the Royal Firebenders. It was an almost impossible task for only six girls, but Suki had some backup on Kyoshi Island: a self-defense class for the local girls. They only had some basic Kyoshi Warrior training, but it was deemed enough for simple guard duty. Soon, all nine villager girls were with the novices in the Fire Nation Capital, and even though they did help a lot, they could barely keep up with the ever increasing demand for guards and guides.

On the ninth day, while quartering the self-defense class, Kitara realized that there are forty-two beds in the house Azula had assigned for the Kyoshi Warriors during her short reign. The novices couldn't find any feasible reason for such a high number of beds until the twelfth day, when a Fire Nation girl arrived to the house, telling the surprised Okako that she was there to join the Kyoshi Warriors by the order of princess Azula. Still in dire need of additional heads, Suki agreed to introduce the newcomer into the ranks of the self-defense class.

For the end of the second week, they had six such Fire Nation girls, a sign that Azula had truly had great plans with the Kyoshi Warriors.

At the beginning of the second week, two initiates also joined the novices: Kazue and Varija made a real difference with their experience, with the later quickly taking control over the newly forming Fire Nation detachment of the cadre. They were both from the Commander's generation, but they weren't very talkative, much to Suki's frustration.

Okako tried to make a headcount, but the Kyoshi Warriors were spread thin and wide all across the Royal Palace, and it was impossible to gather them all in one place in the same time. It would simply throw the palace into utter chaos, and the place already had enough problems with Zuko trying to rule the Fire Nation in the wake of Azula's mad reign.

The very first day of the fourth week, however, brought a surprise that made all the previous three weeks equal to a vacation.

* * *

><p>The girl sitting in front of Suki was maybe a year or two older than her, a typical Fire Nation teenager with long, black hair, brownish-golden eyes, soft features, and a rigorous posture. She also looked a little pale now, with barely contained excitement written all over her face.<p>

They were in a room that had been nominated as Suki's office in the Kyoshi Warrior's house for their stay in the Fire Nation Capital. It was small and a little bit untidy as no one had had the time or the opportunity to put all the papers and leftover equipment in order. This chaos probably made the girl more nervous, as it obviously went against her expectations.

Suki checked the letter on her desk again, re-reading it a few times before she handed it back to the girl.

"So, your name is Reichi, right?" The girl nodded. "And you are here by the royal order of princess Azula to join the Kyoshi Warriors." Another nod. "Anything else I should know about you?"

As she was addressed, Reichi finally began to speak. Her self-discipline was noteworthy, but Suki had gotten used to this from the other Fire Nation girls.

"I'm a firebender," she said with a shaky voice, "a certified _fireseeker_, to be exact."

"Fireseeker? What does that mean?" There was a small twitch on the girl's face as Suki interrupted her, but she swallowed her comment about it.

"A fireseeker is a firebender who can detect other firebenders with her firebending." Reichi raised her arm and summoned a small flame in her open palm. It flickered around a little bit, then flared up, first towards Suki, then it flung widely towards the door of the office. "You have firebending potential," explained Reichi, slightly confused, "and there are two firebenders on the level below us, roughly towards that door."

Now it was Suki's time to nod.

"Anything else?"

"My parents are both soldiers." She made a brief pause. "Or at least my mother is. My father retired after Fire Lord Ozai's defeat." She looked down to the floor, face red from shame, then back to Suki. "He didn't share prince Zuko's view, and…"

Suki raised her hand, signaling that she had heard enough.

"Your former occupation?"

Reichi's face suddenly turned all red from the question. At first, it seemed like she wouldn't answer, but under Suki's curious gaze, the girl quickly crumbled.

"I was an actress in the Ember Island Theater…" she said quietly. "I played the role of Mai, the _loyal_ _friend_ of princess Azula."

The awkward silence that followed these sentences lasted much longer than it was supposed to.

Then Suki exploded in a heartfelt laughter, and Reichi soon joined her with a polite chuckle.

"Okay, that's just too good!" Suki offered her hand to Reichi. "Welcome to the Kyoshi Warriors!"

Reichi accepted the hand a bit warily, first trying to simply shake hands, but as Suki grabbed her forearm instead of her hand, she got the gesture and did the same. The traditional Kyoshi Warrior handshake between the two was rather clumsy, but Suki deemed it a proper start from her newest warrior.

The opening of the door broke the moment, and as Suki glanced past Reichi's shoulder, she could see Okako – the lieutenant of the Kyoshi Warriors – standing in the entrance.

"Commander, we have visitors down in the main hall."

Suki just sighed. Many people in the palace who didn't know her called her by her title: 'Commander' by being the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Over time, others also began to address her like this instead of saying her name. It was nice from the self-defense class or the Fire Nation girls, but hearing it from her warrior-sisters was quite embarrassing. Not just because it was somewhat impersonal, but because Suki knew the real 'Commander' and didn't want any confusion out of this within the cadre.

Now, she just let it pass.

Suki took her time to leave her office. She packed up her application forms as she was sure that the visitors were Fire Nation functionaries, and took a bite from the remains of her breakfast.

Okako and Reichi followed her without a word.

As she walked down on the stairs, she had an odd feeling that one of the visitors would be familiar to her. It almost felt like she was about to see some family members.

The rest of the novices were already in the main hall, and there were eight women with them, all in traditional Kyoshi Warrior uniforms.

One of them was the Commander.

Suki decided to not circle around the point, and walked directly to her. From behind her, Reichi disappeared without a trace, but she couldn't care less. The Commander was already waiting for Suki, with a soft smile on her face. By some strange reason, it looked like the grisly scar that disfigured the Commander's right face was less disturbing than last time. Maybe Suki had just got used to it in the Boiling Rock, yet, she still remembered to it as much more awful that it was now.

"I hoped that we would meet again soon," the Commander greeted Suki, and offered her hand. Their Kyoshi Warrior handshake was perfect but short, as it was turned into a warm hug.

It felt good, yet strangely not intimate, like the hug Suki had had with Piandao before the arrival of Sozin's Comet. Maybe it was just because what the swordmaster had said about 'others' caring about her, a possibility Suki had never considered before. Ever since the Boiling Rock, she had had the idea that the Commander had possibly been her mother, but now, Suki thought of her like a watchful guardian, a warrior-sister looking after her own.

"The Kyoshi Warrior initiates have left Kyoshi Island in order to ensure its neutrality," began the Commander ceremoniously, addressing everyone in the hall as she broke the hug with Suki. "Now, as the war is over, it is time for them… _for us_ to return."

"We need to rally and reorganize," added one of the women. She looked like she was in her mid-forties, but Suki could see many-many more years in her eyes. "The world is about to change in a way that is beyond precedent in the whole history of our cadre. If we want to face this change and successfully overcome it, then we must do it together."

"Agreed," inserted another woman. She looked slightly younger than the previous one, both in looks and eyes. "Gathering the whole cadre should be our topmost priority."

"The novices don't even know who we are…" noted a third woman. All the initiates laughed on this, except the Commander.

"Akemi, Riko and Rayen," she whispered to Suki with a wink. "Old sisters, even for me."

Suki glanced through the initiates with mixed feelings. From the looks of it, there were three from the Commander's generation, two from a generation above, and three from the generation even above the previous. They all wore the green Kyoshi Warrior uniforms, with golden fans in their belts but without the armor. Their hairs were in classic Kyoshi Warrior buns or left short and loose like Suki's and the Commander's. Even though Suki had just met with them, she already felt like she had always known them. And she wasn't alone: Asha was clinging into one of the older women as if she was her mother, and there was a mixed bunch that was like four Kitaras from four ages giggling together.

For the first time in her life, Suki had a real taste of being a Kyoshi Warrior. So far, she had had six warrior-sisters, seven with instructor Tamara. Now, she had sixteen. She was happy to see the cadre reunite, and she was looking forward to get to know all the initiates, but Piandao's words about the 'others' cast a dark shadow over her mood.

What sacrifices had been made so that she could live? How many people were still beyond her sight, pulling the strings so that she was safe? What stakes were in play? What reason, what motives were moving these people to protect a girl like Suki?

She didn't have to look to the Commander's scarred face or remember Piandao's pained and troubled face to recognize that her story was infinitely more complicated than she had believed.

With hindsight, Sozin's Comet had been barely a prelude for her real adventure, a test of her mettle.

_Speaking of which!_

"Where is Kei?" Her sudden question silenced the hall. Some of the initiates exchanged glances.

"She was with us when we came through the main gate to the capital," explained one of the younger initiates. Suki knew her from name: she was Aoi, the lieutenant of the Commander's generation. "Her… _retinue_ probably slowed her down, but she should be here in any second…"

Just as she said this, the door to the hall literally burst open, revealing a group of nine girls standing in the entrance, bathing in the sharp midday sunlight. The foremost girl made a step inside, and as her silhouette became more solid, Suki immediately recognized her.

"Kyoshi's rusted scoop!" hissed Pema as she walked to Suki with the other novices to get a better look on the newcomers. "Kei?"

Kei's lips quivered, then sagged.

"Giiiiirls!" she whimpered, then launched herself forward, trying to wrap her arms around as many novices as she could at once. When she somehow succeeded in finally getting all six of them, she lifted the whole bunch into the air. At the height of her move, her crying suddenly stopped, and she roughly dropped the girls back to the floor.

Her face was now red from anger.

"Good! Hope you have a nice seat _pumpkin_, as I went through the worst to find you!" Hearing the loathed nickname again after all those months, Suki couldn't withhold a frown. "Can you even imagine how I missed you? No! Don't even try it! You can't!"

This was the point when Kei noticed the initiates. Her expression eased as the anger was replaced with confusion and embarrassment.

"They are the Kyoshi Warrior initiates," Nirmal answered the unspoken question.

Kei looked down to the novices, then up to the initiates, then back down to the novices. The situation was clearly beyond her comprehension.

"You can't keep your mess low and quiet, can you?" This was her only comment.

Suki stood up, and gently pushed Kei away to check the other girls. They were dark skinned teenagers wearing purple robes. There were six of them, with two of them being twins.

"Water Tribe?" Suki asked from the closest girl, and she nodded with a smile. "What are you doing here with Kei?"

"I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Northern Water Tribe for a few months," grumbled Kei. "These girls joined me to learn the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors."

"Your mess isn't the low and quiet type either, is it?" noted Pema from the background. "We got your letter, but we were busy surviving the antics of a crazy princess, so forgive our lack of manners for not writing back."

"Nice excuse, but I know your story!" Kei smoothed a fold on her uniform. "I have met a special someone who knew a lot about us! She told me everything about you, Princess Azula, and…" She bit off the end of the sentence as she caught the Commander's curious eyes. "Yeah, I know a lot of stuff, but I also have to get some beds for these girls. Hope you have space to spare."

"They have," added an initiate with a badly concealed smirk. "Go and get some rest. We will debrief you all later."

Suki sighed. Things were getting back to normal, with the novices being novices again after instructor Tamara's leave. She had to admit, it was a little bit offensive that the initiates seemingly took over her operation, since it was she who had been tasked with guarding the Royal Palace with her Kyoshi Warriors, but deep inside, she was thankful to get rid of this burden. Maybe she could even spend some time with Sokka and the others too.

As Suki began to leave the hall to catch up with Kei and finally talk with her after all those months, she couldn't shoo away the thought that something big was about to happen with the novices. She had heard about all those weird things that had happened with Nirmal and Asha – the former seeing golden auras around the Kyoshi Warriors while the latter revealing herself to be a chosen of some great prophecy – and now Kei too had had a strange adventure, not to mention Suki's own with Azula and the Commander.

They were all standing at the dawn of a new era as the daughters of Kyoshi. They had been through a lot so far, it was undeniable. They had been challenged and tested like never before, both individually and as a group.

It was an end for them. The end of the beginning.


	10. Epilogue: The End of the Beginning

**EPILOGUE: THE END OF THE BEGINNING**

Kyoshi Island had become quite cramped since the return of the Kyoshi Warriors. Even though both Suki and the Commander had tried their best to accommodate the new Kyoshi Warriors, there simply hadn't been enough houses with free rooms. Chief Oyaji and Bipin – the forester of the island – had laid out a plan to build a new house next to the Kyoshi Warrior dojo, but even with the help of Sokka and the Mechanist, the construction would have taken several months. So Suki had decided to open up the dojo itself, and for the time being, she and her novices had moved in there.

* * *

><p>The late autumn night was pretty cold, and the dojo wasn't exactly well-insulated either, so the novices slept in one big clump, wrapping themselves into thick blankets and nestling up to each other for warmth. They were all asleep, mostly undisturbed by the cold. The scene was peaceful, maybe unnaturally so, as the seven girls didn't make as much as a snort or a turn.<p>

The two spirits watching them made sure that they wouldn't wake up, bestowing empty dreams upon the girls that trapped them in the lands of slumber. From their viewpoint, the single room of the dojo was illuminated by sharp golden light – a spiritual phenomenon, projected by the young girls on the floor as their unique bond took form in the Spirit Realm.

One of the spirits looked like an average, slender woman, wearing a loose grey robe, her long black hair flowing in the air like it had its own will. The other was like a big stray dog, with shaggy fur and two black holes in the place of his eyes. Their presence was highly unusual around this part of the Spirit Realm, but the golden light had drawn them here with an undeniable force.

They both carried the bindings that connected them to these girls: the bracelet on the woman's arm and the large collar on the dog's neck both emitted the same golden light as the novices' bodies. They weren't here of their own free will, but they had had to come, answering their master's call.

"I still can't believe that we were free to do whatever we wanted with them," the dog-spirit broke the silence with his rasping voice. "She was away for waaaay too long. One hundred years is quite a lot by mortal standards, I reckon. She won't like the…" He licked his lips with his grotesquely long tongue as his mouth formed a wicked smile. "…changes we made."

The woman-spirit giggled up.

"If there is someone who is responsible for all this, then it should be her," She leapt into the air and twirled around the novices in the air like a bizarre flying snake, her form now inhumanly sleek and graceful. "We told her to use the connection and escape, but she preferred to spend one hundred years encased in ice." She skimmed over Kei and flashed a wide smile. Despite being asleep, the girl below her obediently mirrored the expression.

"Stop playing with them," said the dog-spirit, but the woman-spirit ignored him. She now moved to Asha and blew into her hair, mussing it up.

"How are our plans going?" She asked eventually, after she had pulled down Kitara's blanket, making the poor girl shiver from cold. "Is everything in place?"

"You know that it is," answered the dog-spirit impatiently. He nodded towards Nirmal. "The medium is going to be a problem though. She saw me in the prison tower while I was feeding on another girl."

"Most unfortunate!" laughed the woman-spirit. "What about the redhead?"

Both spirits looked at Suki then at each other. The woman-spirit glided a little bit closer, but as she tried to touch Suki's auburn hair, a blue aura flashed up sharply around the girl's head, repulsing the woman-spirit's hand. She hissed up painfully as the blue light tore into her form, dissolving the end of her fingers.

"Careful my dear, we don't want them to wake up." It was hard to miss the malicious glee in the dog-spirit's voice, but the woman-spirit let it pass. He moved a little closer to the pile of girls, glancing through them like a predator checks out its fallen prey. "I have them under control. They think that the worst is past them, but they have no idea. Their little adventure was only the beginning, and what's coming for them will be worse… much worse."

"I almost feel pity for them."

The dog-spirit shook his head and his smile turned into a terrific grin.

Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden fluctuation in the golden light. It ebbed and flowed for a moment, then brightened up even stronger than before.

"She is coming," noted the woman-spirit, and the dog-spirit nodded.

"Let's wait for her at the statue," he said. "She is the strongest around her daughters. Maybe she will have less energy for scolding while she is away from them."

The woman-spirit just laughed and flew out from the dojo through the roof window. The dog-spirit stayed for a moment longer, but eventually he too left the place through one of the side windows.

Without the presence of the two spirits, life slowly returned into the novices: Kei started to snore loudly, and Kitara's shivering intensified as she really began to feel the cold of the night.

Only seconds later, the golden light turned blinding-white. It only flared for a moment, as an incorporeal hand wrapped in golden light gently re-arranged the blanket on Kitara, and then the whiteness left as quickly as it had arrived.

**THE END**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed the story! Reviews are greatly appreciated!


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